Saturday Night Live alum Al Franken is fighting to become Minnesota's next Senator, but he's far from the first person to turn celebrity into a run for office. A look at a few of his predecessors and their entertainment careers before (and in some cases, after) they became public servants

Fred Thompson

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP / Getty

Thompson is one of those rare celeb politicos who has actual credibility both
on screen and in office. His first brush with political stardom was as an
attorney working for the Senate Watergate Committee investigating Nixon.
After a successful career in the movies, he ran for the Senate in his
Tennessee in 1993, driving around the state in a leased pickup truck. He won
by a landslide and stayed in office until 2003. After a few years playing
District Attorney Arthur Branch on the myriad versions of Law &
Order, Thompson became a candidate for president, announcing his bid on
the Tonight Show. But strangely, the straight-talking charisma that lured casting agents to offer him roles including lawmen, lawmakers, admirals  and, yes, the President  evaporated on the stump. He dropped out in January 2008.